Martín Palermo is emerging as the top candidate to become the new head coach of San Lorenzo, with his contract expected to be confirmed during the upcoming Wednesday. According to the Argentine News Agency, the 52-year-old coach has a preliminary agreement and has surpassed other coaches who were sounded out, such as Hernán Crespo and Christian 'Kily' González. Thus, the former forward for Boca Juniors and Estudiantes will take charge of the team that was led by Damian Ayud until his 5-2 defeat against Defensa y Justicia. This would be his tenth club as a head coach, a career that began in the 2012/2013 season. Although he was not considered one of the main candidates in the early hours of the day, during the night of Tuesday, Martín Palermo rose in the standings to become the main candidate to take charge of San Lorenzo. After an acceptable 2023, with Miguel Ángel Russo as coach in the first half and Damian Ayud in the second, and a classification to the Copa Sudamericana, the Cyclone's start to the year did not meet expectations. The team, which looked shaky under Ayud, started the season with three wins in the first six matches of the Apertura tournament, but then went through a four-match winless streak. The first three matches ended in draws: 1-1 against Instituto at home, 0-0 with Talleres, and 1-1 with Boca as a visitor, while the last match of the streak ended in a heavy defeat. The two goals from the newly signed forward Rodrigo Auzmeni in his debut, playing only 27 minutes, were not enough to cover up a terrible game in which San Lorenzo, without defender Gastón Hernández and winger Ezequiel Cerutti, who are out with ligament tears, fell 5-2 to Defensa y Justicia at home. Despite having stated that he did not intend to resign, the previous coach of the blue-and-red team was dismissed on Tuesday morning, prior to training, so the leadership headed by interim president Sergio Constantino got to work to find a replacement. After a full day of evaluating various options, the replacement has been chosen: Martín Palermo. The coach, who comes from leading Fortaleza of Brazil, where he earned 54% of the points and dramatically avoided relegation, already has a preliminary agreement with the 'Crows'. Thus, the contract is expected to be signed on Wednesday and the coach will take charge of the Primera Division team as soon as possible, although it has not yet been determined if he will debut in the team's next match, which is at home at the Pedro Bidegain stadium on Friday, March 20th at 9:15 PM against Deportivo Rincón, in the Round of 32 of the Copa Argentina, at the Centenario Ciudad de Quilmes stadium of the 'Cervezero'. This will be Palermo's tenth club as a coach: he started at Godoy Cruz, had a stint at Arsenal, then spent three seasons in Unión Española of Chile, Pachuca of Mexico, and Curicó Unido, returning to Argentine football in 2011 to take charge of Aldosivi, and has had good spells since then at Platense, Olimpia of Paraguay, and the aforementioned Fortaleza. As a coach, the 'Titan' has only one title to his name: the Clausura 2024 with Olimpia in Paraguay, which also earned him the title of best coach of that year in the Paraguayan Primera Division.
